legends || formula one

bahrain pt.1.

ELENA WALKED DOWN THE PADDOCK ALONGSIDE GUANYU as the two headed to the thursday driver's press conference. while guanyu waved to some of the drivers they passed by, elena had her head down, double checking his media duties for the day.

in this conference, it was guanyu, pierre gasly, george russell, and- most of interest to elena, max verstappen and charles leclerc. now, it wasn't like this was the first time she had seen either of them during a press conference. rather, this time, she was looking at them not as drivers but as two people- two friends- that had taken a sudden interest in one of her best friends.

guanyu stayed at the front of the room, taking a seat on the couch while she maneuvered to the back of the room where the other media officers were. over the next 25 minutes or so, her focus shifted from the questions being asked and the responses given, both related and not related to guanyu, and what to her looked like some very confusing body language from max and charles.

it was her job to find these types of things and sort it out before journalists could catch a whiff of even the slightest bit of tension.

one moment, they're laughing together at a stupid question from a journalist, and the next they're staring straight at each other, lips in a thin line. elena had only one thought in mind- it seemed like the two friends ended up talking to each other before josie could.

that did not end up sitting right in her stomach.

her worries would have to wait, though, as her and guanyu had to head to an interview with a journalist who had just flown in for the weekend. guanyu noticed his media officer's lack of focus. "everything alright, elena?"

elena could only answer honestly. "that's a tough question to answer, guanyu." his eyes narrowed in interest. elena sighed. "if you're really curious, have a chat with josie."

"something tells me that there is juicy story here that i have missed out on." guanyu guessed.

elena rolled her eyes. "like you wouldn't even believe..."

JOSIE WAS PACING BACK AND FORTH AT THE BACK OF THE GARAGE when elena found her. she froze when her gaze caught elena's.

"what the hell, josie?" elena fumed, best friend mode off and media mode on. her frustration was clear, even if it was spoken in a harsh whisper. "it has been almost 5 days and you still haven't talked to either of them!"

"i-" josie began, but she was just as quickly cut off by elena.

"in fact, you've managed to let the two of them talk it out themselves and now they're staring daggers at each other!"

josie couldn't come up with an excuse and dropped her head to the floor. it's exactly why elena caught her burning holes into the floor- she was too anxious to even figure out what to say.

she slowly lifted her head back up. "are they really..." josie asked, her voice trailing off.

"you should've seen them. if anyone else knew what i knew, they would've thought the same thing."

josie held out her pinky. "the moment i see or talk to them again, i promise i'll say what i need to."

elena sighed. "you know, this isn't just for you, it's for the team."

josie silently nodded. elena reached out her pinky and the promise was set. she did not expect to have to fulfill this promise so soon, though...

elena told josie to grab a bit of fresh air before her strategy meeting, hoping that the young race engineer could clear her mind and put her focus where it really needed to be- on guanyu, on the team.